A Little Dramatic Irony
by Ultrawoman
Summary: One-Shot. We all know Wade wouldn't really cheat on Zoe. Even they know it. Sometimes writers just add these twists for dramatic effect, but the truth must overcome fiction! [A slightly cracky meta-ish reaction to 2x15-2x19, set in an AU future]


**A/N: I've reached a point of too much angst and I've read so many fics and comments from when 2x15/2x16/2x17 originally aired that I know the over-riding opinion was that the writers screwed up. Well, sometimes a writer thinks they're doing the best thing for the story and sometime they're just wrong, and then slightly cracky, sort of meta fanfic happens... ;)**

 _ **(Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Hart of Dixie belong to Leila Gerstein and other folks who aren't me).**_

A Little Dramatic Irony

"Wade, come on! I can't believe you're mad about this. That's crazy!" Zoe yelled as she followed him out of the bedroom.

"Oh, that's crazy?" he scoffed, rounding on her with anger flashing in his eyes. "It's so crazy that I'm not thrilled about you telling the world I cheated on you years back, when, by the way, I did not!"

Zoe frowned and visibly slumped at the sound of those words.

"Well, when you put it like that, it sounds bad," she admitted, squirming under his glare. "But come on, it's not like it's really about us."

"Are you kidding?" he said, eyes wide as he reached for the papers on the table and waved them at her. "So, this Wade and Zoe have nothing at all to do with us Wade and Zoe?"

"People can have the same names and not be the same people," she told him lamely. "Hey, you were the one who encouraged me when I took that creative writing class. You even said it was a good idea when I wanted to base the characters on us."

"Yeah, for fun," he told her, tossing the pages back on the table, "and because... because reliving a few past memories for inspiration meant I got laid a lot," he admitted, unable to do so without smirking about it. "But that was before the publishing happened, before the world got to read the great adventure that was our life. And before you started making stuff up that never happened!"

"Well, we... we did it too well," she said, squirming again. "I mean, all the stuff at the beginning, how we got together in the first place, it made for a great novel," she explained, "but then we were just happy and... and happy doesn't sell on its own. Good stories have to have drama, Wade," she told him, hoping he would understand.

"Drama, sure," he said, nodding his head. "I get that. So, have me fall off a roof and land up in the hospital like you always worried I would, or... or make pretend them feelings you had for George Tucker came back around or something. I can live with that, doc, but writing that I cheated on you? That's one thing I wouldn't ever do. Never."

He was so mad about it, but more than that, he was just so hurt. Zoe hadn't thought about that before. She got so into the story she was telling, taking advice from people who were supposed to know better about what really sold. It genuinely hadn't occurred to her that Wade would care so much, but it should have.

"I'm sorry," she told him, stepping in closer again. "Wade, I really am. I never... You know I don't think for a second that you would behave that way, right?"

There was a horrible moment when he said nothing, and then he sighed.

"I know," he said then, not fighting it when she wrapped her arms around him. "I just... I guess I overreacted," he admitted, hugging her back, "but just imagining hurting you like that, it tears me up, Zoe."

"I'm sorry," she repeated, squeezing him tighter. "I just didn't think. I'll rewrite it, I will, or maybe I'll just invent new characters, start over with a new book. A sequel was a dumb idea anyway and I-"

He cut off her words in her favourite way, with a good long kiss on the lips.

"All that stuff you put down on the page, doc, and still you never run out of words, do ya?" he teased her, tugging on her hair.

"And yet, still not the chattiest person you know," she said, giggling as tiny footsteps pounded down the hall and a small projectile barrelled into both hers and Wade's legs.

"I want hugs too!" Elizabeth declared, all Daddy's blue eyes and bouncing blonde curls as she looked up at them both.

"Well, of course you do, baby girl," said Wade, leaning down to sweep his daughter up into his arms. "Can't have you being left out of a thing now, can we?"

"Nuh-uh," she declared, wrapping one small arm around the neck of each parent. "I thought you were fighting. I woke up and there was yelling."

"Yelling?" Zoe echoed. "Well, that doesn't sound right. Why would I be yelling at Daddy?"

"You weren't. Daddy was yelling at you," she said solemnly, looking at Wade.

"Somethin' and nothin', sweetheart," he promised her, kissing her cheek. "Sorry if I worried you."

"It's okay," she told him, shrugging her little shoulders. "Aunt Tansy yells at Uncle George all the time, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love him."

Zoe giggled at that, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Hey, you want drama for your book, put in some of those epic fights those two have had over the years," said Wade with a look. "I don't know about other folks, but I find that all kinds of entertaining," he said, grinning as he wrapped his free arm around Zoe and pulled her closer.

"That's mean," she told him, "even if it is true. You know they only fight because they love each other. That's where the passion comes from for some people," she said with a significant look.

Just as Wade was going to kiss her, Elizabeth spoke up again.

"What's passion?" she asked curiously.

"Um, that's not something that little girls need to know about until they're way older than five," said Zoe definitely.

"Yeah, more like twenty-five, minimum," said Wade, even more definitely. "Now, come on, Lizzy girl. Let's get us out of your Momma's way. She's got some pages that want rewriting."

"She really has," said Zoe, nodding her head. "Wade, you know I didn't mean-"

"I get it," he told her, looking back from the doorway. "I guess it just smarted some because, well, because _you_ wrote it. I'd hate to think you thought I ever could-"

"I don't," she promised him. "I really don't."

He nodded that he understood and gave her a genuine smile before he turned his attention back to their daughter.

"What say you and me go visit with your grandpa for a while?"

"Yeah! Crazy Grandpa Earl!"

Zoe listened to her little girl's cheering and her husband's laughter echoing down the hall and couldn't stop smiling. Picking up the pages of manuscript from the table, she tore them clean in half and in half again. Wade was so right, she didn't even want a fictional version of the two of them to go through something so awful. Having the readers of her book blaming even a made-up Wade for any pain made-up Zoe suffered, it just seemed so wrong and so out of character.

"But that falling off the roof thing, now that could work," she said, considering it carefully as she headed back to her desk, humming _Moon River_ as she went.

The End

 **IMPORTANT: For those that don't know, I'm watching Hart of Dixie for the first time and trying to avoid spoilers, so while I will be extremely grateful for any reviews I might get on this story I would appreciate nothing that might spoil me for anything past s2e19. Many thanks in advance :)**


End file.
